John Breckenfeld
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS), Foreign Language Education Center, Seoul campus
About
Hello, I'm John Breckenfeld. I have been living in Korea for ten years. I am currently working at HUFS in Seoul (since 2019) where I teach Communicative English. After working with all ages - from preschoolers to grandparents - I am very grateful to be teaching college students full-time. Their creativity, diligence and positive energy are truly inspiring, and I seek to inspire them in turn. For seven years, KOTESOL has been a massively rewarding source of professional development for me. Now, I am thrilled to be a part of the 2022 KOTESOL IC.Sessions
Don't Simply Write Your Opinion - Show a Critical Analysis more
Sat, Apr 30, 15:00-Tue, May 31, 23:55 Asia/Seoul
Classroom writing shouldn’t be dreadful. Rather, this workshop introduces writing tasks that challenge, inspire and compel students. During the fall 2020 and 2021 semesters, the presenter utilized a 6-week writing project, transcending the standard opinion essay, with 300 university students. Through ‘Argument/Counterargument Analysis’ writing tasks, students develop essential persuasive writing skills while exploring the strategic art of concealment - an unconventional but fruitful learning opportunity. This workshop details the step-by-step processes students completed, including sentence development, small group writing roleplays and ultimately producing opposing paragraphs, where the final product is so convincing and tonally objective, the student’s true convictions about the writing prompt remain obscured. These procedures naturally cultivate critical thinking, and even empathy, as students evaluate and communicate a range of viewpoints on a given issue. After viewing student writing samples, and then exploring writing roleplay prompts in breakout groups, a wrap-up discussion will conclude the workshop.
Money Drives Modern Life, so Why Not Utilize Economics-Driven Content? more
Sun, May 1, 16:00-Tue, May 31, 23:55 Asia/Seoul
Money may be the most relatable topic we can present to students. With tuition, food, housing, inflation, clothes, entertainment, etc., we are inescapably bound to the economy. But instead of embracing modern capitalism, this workshop will show how economics-based lessons can exist within the paradigms of ethics, civic responsibility and environmental justice - as well as simple pleasure shopping. Fortunately, podcasts - a highly practical, comprehensive, accessible medium - offer a cornucopia of compelling content. Since spring 2020, I have utilized podcast-centered economics content, completely in English, during classroom activities, homework assignments, quizzes and even summative assessments. While aided by proper scaffolding, students have delivered convincing results. During the workshop, I will detail the effective implementation of high stakes midterm and final exams created entirely from the contents of 10- to 20-minute economics-themed podcasts. Then, attendees will discuss the topic in small groups, followed by a whole group wrap-up discussion.
The "Why" and "How" of Student Presentations: Two Distinct Approaches more
Sat, Apr 30, 11:00-Tue, May 31, 23:55 Asia/Seoul
Presentations are essential in the real world, and developing presentation skills is fundamental in ELT. This workshop features two distinct approaches to presentations utilized by two colleagues from the same department, who both teach Communicative English. Despite having the same student numbers and departmental requirements, each presenter may capitalize on individual strengths to maximize pedagogical goals and student learning outcomes. Ultimately, their students have engaged with two highly different presentation formats: 1) individual with traditional presentation structure, and 2) group with the highly structured framework of PechaKucha. During this workshop, each co-presenter will briefly describe how student presentations are integrated into their lessons. Then attendees will break into small groups to discuss their experience with student presentations and consider potential applications of the methods explained. Ideally, attendees will leave the workshop with a clearer understanding of why and how they incorporate student presentations into their curriculum.
